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For those of us who loved the Daniel Faust series, Craig Schaefer just released a new epic fantasy book today. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PA0T0W4 quote:Pope Benignus is dying, and the man who takes his throne will hold the reins of an empire. Conspiracies swirl like shadows around Livia, the pope's daughter, who refuses to be anyone's pawn: chasing the whispers of a deadly coup, she vows to expose the truth and save her church from disaster. Livia has secrets of her own, though, and one wrong move could cost her life and her soul. Sounds like it might be cool. It's 4.99 as well.
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Nov 11, 2014 13:54
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I'm re-reading The Quantum Thief and remembering just how brilliant this book is. I skim read it the first time and, while I liked it, I definitely missed bits. This time round I'm taking it luxuriously slowly and just marveling at how many cool ideas and interesting things are in every single page. The whole gevulot system is just brilliant, and so incredibly thought out and consistent. Probably my favorite single idea in SF, bar Richard Morgan's handling of consciousness on a hard drive.
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Nov 11, 2014 14:03
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UncleSmoothie posted:I'm a casual and infrequent visitor to this thread so apologies if I'm making a terribly obvious recommendation: I just finished Trucksong and it's just the most remarkable bit of recent sci-fi I've read in ages. The story of a boy in post-apocalyptic Australia trying to track down the sentient truck who stole his girl. Beautifully written and full of clever, unique world-building. loving trucks, stealing our loving women.
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Nov 11, 2014 14:04
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"Beholder's Eye", by Julie E. Czerneda. This is the best sci-fi book about A.I. that I've ever read. This is a book set in the future and brings in some intriguing thoughts about the nature of sentience & the nature of existence, most notably the introduction of Ersh, a sentient female superbeing that exists in the space 'between' computers. e: grammar A3th3r fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Nov 11, 2014 |
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Nov 11, 2014 16:49
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The Supreme Court posted:I'm re-reading The Quantum Thief and remembering just how brilliant this book is. I skim read it the first time and, while I liked it, I definitely missed bits. This time round I'm taking it luxuriously slowly and just marveling at how many cool ideas and interesting things are in every single page. The whole gevulot system is just brilliant, and so incredibly thought out and consistent. Probably my favorite single idea in SF, bar Richard Morgan's handling of consciousness on a hard drive. it really was a fantastic book, made the disappointment of the third book so much worse.
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Nov 11, 2014 17:40
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I know it's John C Wright and he's a loving weirdo in real life but I really must recommend The Golden Age if you liked The Quantum Thief. It is also a sci-fi series set in a post-scarcity Solar society and is also incredibly idea dense. Even more dense than TQT, I think - though it is weaker in other areas. It has a bit of right wing silliness in book 2 but it doesn't really overshadow the merits of the series and the first book is amazing. Goodreads recommended this book Three Parts Dead to me because I read City of Stairs. I hadn't heard of it but bought it and am about 1/4 of the way through. It's quite similar to City of Stairs in setting. It's in a world where Gods have been forced out of some areas of the world through human-centric revolutionaries, although they still rule parts. The major schism is between those who maintain worshiping gods and those who began using magic absent the involvement of gods and carved out their own polities. The gods are basically investment bankers who loan certain types of power and borrow certain others and also receive some from worship. If their agreements to lend power ever exceed what they receive they have an aneurysm and disperse, since they have too many conflicting demands to properly function. The protagonist's sect are essentially lawyers who exploit contracts for their power. The main mystery so far is that one of the only gods that still exists on one of the continents has died. They assume it's due to illiquidity on his part, but it's a mystery. Technology is similar to City of Stairs - some rather modern parts melded in with others, although magic or godpower is used pervasively to power contraptions rather than physical principles. So far the prose is decent and the setting is quite interesting and original.
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Nov 11, 2014 18:03
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Max Gladstone! I haven't read Three Parts Dead yet but he's a really nice guy - not that this necessarily speaks to good or bad writing, but people whose taste I generally follow like him.
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Nov 11, 2014 18:05
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andrew smash posted:it really was a fantastic book, made the disappointment of the third book so much worse. What was wrong with the third book? I started re-reading the first to remind myself what happened so I could finally read the second novel, which has been sitting on my shelf for ages. Three Parts Dead sounds great! I'll add the Golden Age to my list too, thanks.
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Nov 11, 2014 18:21
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The Supreme Court posted:What was wrong with the third book? I started re-reading the first to remind myself what happened so I could finally read the second novel, which has been sitting on my shelf for ages. Read it and find out. A fair number of goons seemed to really like it but i thought that compared to the first two (especially the first) it was just not on the same level.
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Nov 11, 2014 18:48
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I didn't hate it but I had some problems with it. I felt like the plot was too compressed. The core events were fine, but a bit more explanation and character development would have made things a lot smoother. It didn't ruin the series or anything, though.
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Nov 11, 2014 18:50
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Neurosis posted:Goodreads recommended this book Three Parts Dead to me because I read City of Stairs. I hadn't heard of it but bought it and am about 1/4 of the way through. It's quite similar to City of Stairs in setting. It's in a world where Gods have been forced out of some areas of the world through human-centric revolutionaries, although they still rule parts. The major schism is between those who maintain worshiping gods and those who began using magic absent the involvement of gods and carved out their own polities. The gods are basically investment bankers who loan certain types of power and borrow certain others and also receive some from worship. If their agreements to lend power ever exceed what they receive they have an aneurysm and disperse, since they have too many conflicting demands to properly function. The protagonist's sect are essentially lawyers who exploit contracts for their power. The main mystery so far is that one of the only gods that still exists on one of the continents has died. They assume it's due to illiquidity on his part, but it's a mystery. Technology is similar to City of Stairs - some rather modern parts melded in with others, although magic or godpower is used pervasively to power contraptions rather than physical principles. This sounds engrossing & right up my alley, so I'll add it to my 'list of books to read'. It reminds me of A.C. Crispin's "Voices of Chaos" book in the StarBridge series. A3th3r fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Nov 11, 2014 |
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Nov 11, 2014 19:08
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General Battuta posted:Max Gladstone! I haven't read Three Parts Dead yet but he's a really nice guy - not that this necessarily speaks to good or bad writing, but people whose taste I generally follow like him. Yeah, he's awesome and that series is awesome. I had a great twitter conversation with him a few weeks ago that started with the iTunes logo change and ended with Thomas Dolby saving us from a grim future where Terminators crunch the slopes of mountains of Bose-wearing skulls. Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:For those of us who loved the Daniel Faust series, Craig Schaefer just released a new epic fantasy book today. Picking this up right away. Craig Schaefer is also fantastic, despite his output being weirdly high.
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Nov 11, 2014 23:56
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andrew smash posted:Read it and find out. A fair number of goons seemed to really like it but i thought that compared to the first two (especially the first) it was just not on the same level.
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Nov 12, 2014 02:21
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The first three characters for SyFy's The Magicians tv series have been cast! Eliot - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2082776/ (looks a bit too pretty - wish they could've cast Kieran Culkin, although he's like 32 so... oh gently caress, RORY Culkin would be perfect!!!!) Penny - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3231715/ (not bad - although this guy could make a good Quentin too) Julia - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1886524/ Can't wait to see who they pick for Quentin, Alice, Janet and most importantly, Josh. Oh and if Kevin Kline isn't cast as Dean Fogg then gently caress SyFy forever  Oh and the rest of the Rocinante's crew for The Expanse has also been cast: http://deadline.com/2014/10/dominique-tipper-wes-chatham-cast-the-expanse-syfy-space-drama-series-1201266828/ Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 13:59 on Nov 12, 2014 |
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Nov 12, 2014 13:55
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Foxglove Summer comes out tomorrow in the UK. Does anyone know how to buy ebooks on the UK amazon store without a UK credit card or address?
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Nov 12, 2014 14:25
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^^^ didn't know you'd posted that when I did this. Look what I got today: 
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Nov 12, 2014 14:25
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There's a UFO on the cover I'm so reading into that. I'm so jealous!
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Nov 12, 2014 19:58
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regularizer posted:Foxglove Summer comes out tomorrow in the UK. Does anyone know how to buy ebooks on the UK amazon store without a UK credit card or address? 1. Change your country settings address to 10 Downing Street under "Manage Content and Devices" on amazon.com. 2. Purchase ebook. 3. Download ebook. 4. Change your address back to whatever it was before.
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Nov 12, 2014 20:09
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regularizer posted:There's a UFO on the cover I'm so reading into that. I'm so jealous! If it makes you feel any better, I bought it for my wife. So you'll be reading it before me most likely. Got it signed for her though.
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Nov 12, 2014 20:48
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Bout to finish up Tehanu after reading the Earthsea books, so I'm looking for a recommendation on what I should read next. Something fantasy, preferably standalone. I was thinking about finally breaking into Forge of Darkness, but I think I'd rather wait until we're closer to the release of Fall of Light. So yeah, fire away.
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Nov 13, 2014 00:22
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If you're waiting for Fall of Light, you may be waiting for quite a while longer. Last time I checked the book is set to come out September 2015, and it's not the first or second release window I've seen named for the book either.
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Nov 13, 2014 00:41
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apophenium posted:Bout to finish up Tehanu after reading the Earthsea books, so I'm looking for a recommendation on what I should read next. Something fantasy, preferably standalone. I was thinking about finally breaking into Forge of Darkness, but I think I'd rather wait until we're closer to the release of Fall of Light. So yeah, fire away. Any reason you're not going for Tales of Earthsea and The Other Wind? If you're finishing Tehanu, might as well go whole hog.
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Nov 13, 2014 00:49
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Blog Free or Die posted:Any reason you're not going for Tales of Earthsea and The Other Wind? If you're finishing Tehanu, might as well go whole hog. Oh, I didn't know there were more.  A friend lent me a collection of the first four and I assumed that was all she wrote. I guess I'll just finish it all up, then.
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Nov 13, 2014 01:13
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Not sure if anybody else has read Proxima by Stephen Baxter but it's getting a sequel: http://www.amazon.ca/Ultima-Stephen-Baxter-ebook/dp/B00OQRL5JI/ref=pd_ys_ir_kinc_21 I enjoyed the original; it felt a little disjointed at times but I'm glad there's going to be more worldbuilding there.
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Nov 14, 2014 01:39
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Jack2142 posted:Also read another Amazon self published book series Terms of Enlistment and its sequel whose name escapes me atm. Another simple entertaining albiet derivative story that reminded me alot of Starship Troopers and the Forever War, the good parts of them.
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Nov 14, 2014 10:43
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Jack2142 posted:Also read another Amazon self published book series Terms of Enlistment and its sequel whose name escapes me atm. Another simple entertaining albiet derivative story that reminded me alot of Starship Troopers and the Forever War, the good parts of them. If you haven't already, try Poor Man's Fight by Elliott Kay. It was suggested to me as being like Terms of Enlistment - and it is, to the point that I sometimes have trouble remembering which story is which (that may be a bad thing). It also has a sequel, Rich Man's War.
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Nov 15, 2014 05:42
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Is Shadows of the Apt any good? I've exhausted most other epic fantasy series and it just popped up on my amazon recommendations.
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Nov 16, 2014 15:30
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adamarama posted:Is Shadows of the Apt any good? I've exhausted most other epic fantasy series and it just popped up on my amazon recommendations. mystes fucked around with this message at 16:46 on Nov 16, 2014 |
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Nov 16, 2014 16:44
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adamarama posted:Is Shadows of the Apt any good? I've exhausted most other epic fantasy series and it just popped up on my amazon recommendations. It's fun and imaginative but pulpy (it very clearly developed out of the author's RPG campaign world) and the books vary a bit in quality. If you like steampunk settings and non-traditional fantasy it's worth trying, but don't expect literature. I'd recommend it most strongly for people who've read themselves sick of generic orcs and elves fantasy pulp and want to read fantasy pulp with a more innovative setting. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 00:24 on Nov 17, 2014 |
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Nov 17, 2014 00:22
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andrew smash posted:Read it and find out. A fair number of goons seemed to really like it but i thought that compared to the first two (especially the first) it was just not on the same level. The background parts own, the Sobornost own. The zoku settings just don't have the same zip as the Oubliette, Sirr, or even the Oubliette's mini-zoku. Also part of the fun in the previous books was Jean's heist setups, and those go a lot faster here.
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Nov 17, 2014 04:18
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GreyjoyBastard posted:The background parts own, the Sobornost own. The zoku settings just don't have the same zip as the Oubliette, Sirr, or even the Oubliette's mini-zoku. The best thing about the third book was the sobornost. Pellegrini (after isidore, maybe) is probably the most net-good-for-humanity power player in the series and i enjoyed seeing her come out on top.
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Nov 17, 2014 04:33
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Ancillary Sword seems to be as much of a slog as the first book, if not more so. I've put it down to read two other books since I bought it. Might not bother picking it up again.
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Nov 18, 2014 16:15
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:For those of us who loved the Daniel Faust series, Craig Schaefer just released a new epic fantasy book today.
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Nov 19, 2014 10:33
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Haven't had the chance to read it yet, but it's next on my list. Almost done with the book I am working through now 
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Nov 19, 2014 12:06
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I wonder if he thinks the title is less unimaginative and generic because he spelled revenge funny.
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Nov 19, 2014 12:58
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Cardiovorax posted:I wonder if he thinks the title is less unimaginative and generic because he spelled revenge funny. If you actually read the book, you can see there's some good reasons for using that word. (The world is an alt-history fantasy, where a skewed version of the Holy Roman Empire seems to have recently conquered all of Europe, and France (  ) fought to the bitter end while Italy welcomed them with open arms. So there might be some actual French revenge involved somewhere).I'm a little less than halfway done with it, but I'm enjoying it so far. It's more complex and thoughtful than his Daniel Faust books, and has a much larger cast.
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Nov 19, 2014 15:55
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French geopolitical revenge, no less.
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Nov 19, 2014 16:05
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Kesper North posted:France ( Do you know anything about the history of France or is this just 'cheese eating surrender monkey' goonery? Also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revanchism
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Nov 19, 2014 16:40
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fritz posted:Do you know anything about the history of France or is this just 'cheese eating surrender monkey' goonery? I think the was in regards to the HRE somehow kicking in France's poo poo without bankrupting itself 20 times over.
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Nov 19, 2014 16:45
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fritz posted:Do you know anything about the history of France or is this just 'cheese eating surrender monkey' goonery? Force of habit, sorry. Thank you for linking this, that certainly explains the series title.
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Nov 19, 2014 16:47
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